How To beat Commander Gaius - Guard Countering

[@jeffmiller9911]

I specd for a shield before the dlc came out. Such a good decision. Guard counters are awesome in the dlc

[@Valhooli]

This is true, seems like a lot of bosses were more manageable with the guard countering and they added some cool stuff in the DLC for it specifically.

[@cameronomara5091]

I did this with the fingerprint shield and the same hammer and you can basically script this boss if you know the Moveset. Used the turtle talisman 2, great jars arsenal, guard counter talisman and cragblade on the hammer

[@Valhooli]

I like this build to, I don’t have cragblade for some reason on this character. I considered using royal knight resolve but having the shield doesn’t let you use it

[@Evolfurnace]

@@Valhooli use fingerprint with No Skill ash

[@adamm5054]

As a mage I cheesed him. If you stick to the corners of the castle and equip carian sovereignty you can hit him through the wall. It takes a minute to get the set up right but i did it on my 2nd try. Lol

[@Valhooli]

I know a lot of people had to do weird things to kill him. Gotta do what you gotta do

[@chadly211bucks]

I did this very thing, a great shield, high poise, etc. He would just destroy my guard and dead. I’ve watched so many videos and I don’t get the same results. I’m not out of stamina, just strange. I did finally get him. Shirley boy with Moores armor came in a tanked the hell out of him.

[@Valhooli]

I died a few times doing this strat, I think he has a few attacks that go around the shield, so I get it. Glad to hear you were able to get it down though!

[@pastacarlin]

People hate on this boss a lot, but there is actually some room for expression here. I have a faith/int golden order fundamentalist build, so a heavy shield wasn’t an option BUT he is weak to holy, so the solution was putting bloodhound step on a dagger and using it for the dodges, which are brutal otherwise. Then triple rings of light shreds him.

[@Valhooli]

Yea I have beaten this guy two additional times now after this video was made including once at rune level 1. I have actually grown kinda fond of him now that I have learned him. I think guard countering is still a great way to beat him if you struggle, including the weapon I used since it had holy on it. Faith/int build probably rips this dude though

[@PyroFlameofzwe]

As a mage, I used bloodhound step to dodge his charge. Then slash one hit of Adula’s moonblade. Sometimes u can get greedy and get two hits but patience got me the win.

[@Valhooli]

This boss seems pretty fun with magic! Havent spent a lot of time with it though

[@Ostsol]

Annoying to have to respec for a single boss, but it's looking like I might have to.

[@Valhooli]

I was lucky I didnt have to fully respct to do this build, but hes pretty rough

[@MrSwitchblade327]

Shouldn't have to respec in an rpg dlc.Anyone who says different is insane.

[@Valhooli]

@@MrSwitchblade327 you dont HAVE to respec, but this boss is trivialized by a few builds. So if you struggle you can do so. But people are beating him with level 1, and other stuff so hes learnable.

[@sivispacemparabellum6217]

​​@@MrSwitchblade327it's difficult to make an actual good build with effective stat spread. This is one of the reasons why larval tears exist. Every well made build could defeat any boss, this is why you cannot level every stat to use anything you find. Or you could, but it will drastically be less powerful than a dedicated build... hence why you think you have to respec at some point.

[@smakersify]

400+ deaths!!! you have a lot of patience man. I'm on my 20+ death and I'm losing my cool.

[@Valhooli]

Thankfully that death count was for all the bosses and exploring I had done to that point. Gaius took me about 50 lol

[@mta110]

I'm trying to stick to scadutree blessing lv 2 but this dude is tempting me to level up.

[@Valhooli]

If its your first playthrough level up your blessing and have fun, do some crazy shit after haha

[@mta110]

@@Valhooli I hear that. I kinda do the opposite though, I want the first playthrough to be raw (no summons, no spirit ashes) and then in NG+ I do it all lol.

[@cameronomara5091]

Also after you get the repost you have the time to get a charged R2 in for massive poise damage

[@TXRager]

Commander Gaius! Ice cream. I brought you some ice cream Commander Gaius.

[@akitas8165]

Ash of War Golden Vow only lasts for 45 seconds and provides less offense and defence than the incantation.

[@Valhooli]

in the like 500 hours in last two months, level 1 runs, no hit runs and everything else ive done. I did not know this lol Thank you

[@nitram.9621]

0:22 haha lmao i used that scadutree weapon and beat gaius. I personally did it in around 20 tries but what i did to get it easily is i just repeated the same patterns of attacks on him and recording what i did and check what i should have done. Eventually from try 16 to 20 i stuck the boss in certain patterns by reproducing my same movements and attack/dodge pattern and killed him easily on try 20. It felt really refreshing because i heard he was a quite badly designed boss with annoying hitboxes

[@Valhooli]

On my first kill I felt like he was awful, I don’t mind him now though. His only bad design is his charge attack but he’s a fun boss all in all

[@nitram.9621]

@@Valhooli yeah same. He ended up being the boss i struggled the least on in the dlc

[@gopackgo1412]

Shields are soooo good in the dlc

[@joelmichaelviado1226]

Used Taylew Spirit Ash and he was pretty perfect for the battle. Golem with high physical defense and only weak spot behind him and deals physical and poise damage is a good option. Being a spell blade build with Spiral Shard also shreds him like paper. Also those hit boxes, while doable are pretty wonky. Fighting him on torrent is quite a chore. Feel a little bad I didn’t duel him, but there’s always next time.

[@Valhooli]

spirit ashes are probably fantastic for this fight for sure. the taylew ash is pretty tanky to. I think magic in general is pretty good against him and hes weak to holy. Sounds like you had a good build though, good stuff!

[@matthewsmith22]

Drove me crazy, I ended up spamming the wave of gold attack with the relic sword, definitely cheating but it got me past this guy😂

[@carlosb.6851]

Imma try this out

[@Valhooli]

Let me know how it works for you, definitely a very different playstyle

[@jamelzer0]

How I beat gaius nacho cheese.

[@squibby4410]

Dumb question but how were you able to block so much including the charge attack? I was using a max upgraded blacksteel great shield and it wasn’t doing much at all. Is it because I need the no skill ash of war to hold down L2? Sorry I never use shields so I’m a noob with this information lol

[@Valhooli]

I wont pretend to be an expert at using shields but ill try my best. Blacksteel great shield should be a good shield for this boss as it has high physical negation. I would first make sure you have the required stats to use the shield, but I assume you do. On top of that when you block depending on the damage you take it consumes stamina, so make sure you arent getting stamina stagger busted. Also I assume you are using a controller, to guard/block with a controller its not L2 to block it would be L1 on Playstation or LB for xbox. I hope this helps, but if it doesnt try finding a regular enemy to test blocking on first before going back in.

[@squibby4410]

@@Valhooli yeah I was using L1 to block and the charge move would just knock me over, weird

[@Valhooli]

@@squibby4410 The only time I would ever get knocked over from something like this is if I wasnt holding block all the way through of it was consuming all my stamina

[@joelmichaelviado1226]

Use the deflecting hardtear on your flask and timing guards will negate damage and stamina drain.

[@gopackgo1412]

Nice vid

[@Valhooli]

Thanks! glad you liked it

[@debomb721]

No think, INdigo roll

[@tiuloco6646]

I loved this DLC, but I confess that this boss was the most annoying thing about this incredible game, it's a battle that makes us lose the desire to play the game, because it's unbalanced, boring, there's no time to have fun. Mesmer and Radhan are also difficult but the battles are incredible. And this Gaius is immensely tedious, boring, it discourages me until I make another NG+ just because of this rubbish! I hope From fixes this Boss, which for me was a big mistake in this DLC

[@Valhooli]

I was with you until you said radahn was incredible haha. Radahn is just bad. That being said everyone is allowed to like different things. Gaius has grown on me the more ive done it though

[@finesseforsale]

No lie I’ve been watching video after video but I finnaly beat him after just attack attack get attacked heal twice repeat, it’s a pretty trash boss fight either way tho

[@Valhooli]

He is by no means my favorite, but the more ive done him the less I hate him. Hes certainly not great but other than his charge attack hes manageable.

[@sandyk390]

I don't see the point of hiding behind a big shield like that and play. Takes out the challenge from the fight and makes the game so easier. Where's the fun in that??

[@Valhooli]

The awesome thing about Elden ring is there is tons of ways to play. If this route isn’t fun for you no worries don’t use it! But this boss was hard and is hard for a lot of players, and this strategy is pretty safe